Design is Slowgoing

I made the attempt to start designing classes today. Got through 2 of the simpler ones in about an hour, 27 more classes to go. Not sure how long this will all take but im hoping by the end of the week, or failing that sometime next week. Its not really all that difficult, just a lot of busy work in many cases, just writting down my ideas. The advantage though is once I start coding its basicly like a big set of fill in the blanks and should save much time coding.

In other news I hear the website prototype should have some graphics ready for display tomorrow, im waiting eagerly.

Until next time.
-Toraux

Class Listing

Ok so I now added four more classes to the already full core set of classes, for a grand total of 29. I have created all the directory structure for all these classes and I will be defining all the functions and variables as well as comments on everything right where the code will be soon enough. Im hoping the core engine will be finished by the end of summer, but it looks as though its possible that it will take me the rest of 2006. Guess we'll find out how the pace is soon enough. Starting Sunday ill be writting out the function and variable listings for each class. Im hoping this takes only a few days but could take a week or more.

Anyway, got to run to class.
-Toraux

Progress

I booted in linux for the first time in a long time today. Its going to take a bit to get used to again. I messed around with JUnit and started confirming some other minor things I have been planning on for the future implementation.

On the advertising front I think I will be signing up for a mailing list that people should be able to sign up for here to recieve updates as I post them here. I think I might start posting on news groups next week, I know there have to be a whole bunch of interested people on those, last time I posted a direct request for people to log on the site we had about 300 hits so who knows it might help a lot.

Tomorrow I need to teach, but starting thursday I plan on begining to write out class definitions for the base classes. Im hoping on having these definitons written out by the end of next week. After that I will be writting out the basic class list, writting pseudo code for each function in the base classes and finally writting a simple test plan. Once I have all this stuff and checked it all out I will start going down the list and hopefully implement a minimum of a class per week. Cant wait.

Anyways see you later.
-Toraux

Descriptions Done

Pretty much finished up the basic set of class descriptions. My next goal is to learn how to use JUnit and refresh my memory on the use of Packages and referencing objects in Java.

I really would like to get some more traffic to the site, got lucky today and picked up another handful of hits which really increased the revenue for the day. Anyone who would like to link to this site is more then welcome too. In fact please do, if anyone wants to exchange links I am more then happy to do that too.

Well gotta get some sleep, class and an interview with Verizon Wireless tomorrow. Yay Engineering.
-Toraux

The Design Continues

Ok so the plan has now expanded to include 25 base classes. I started writting out basic descriptions of each one and it's functionality tonight. My goal tomorrow will be to complete the list of descriptions and try to ensure that everything will work out fine when implemented.

I really need people to start getting the word out about Dynamic, I need about 80 more dollars to have enough cash to pay for the first year of website hosting for our real site. Anyone who might have a clue as to a better way to either get traffic to this site or raise that money let me know, or post a comment or something and we can figure it out.

Cant wait to get coding this, im sure a lot of you want to play too so ill try to get the ball moving on this! Thanks for the support.

-Toraux

Designing

So I think im pretty much back. Made a diagram out of the core classes that will make up the basis of the Dynamic MUD Engine last night. The plan includes 18 classes so far, and this number could quite easily increase with some of the other ideas I plan on working into the core engine. The full engine that will run the game should then consist of potentially hundreds and hundreds of classes derived from this core set to represent every being, room, and item in the game.

Starting to get a plan together for a possible website in the nearish future. Looks like we'll be making an attempt to get the rest of the initial 100bucks from google out of this blog if possible, and use that to pay for the first year of real hosting. That means if you know people who might be interested in this blog give them the url! Hopefully then the new website would be able to bring in enough cash to pay for incorporation to get the project release in the later stages. This process should then allow us to make enough cash selling the initial shares to small time investors or people really interested in the project. All of this a result of us getting people to show up on the site.

The new site will include tons of information about the game, and plans. It also will have this news blog and a huge set of forums for discussing future features and options. I hope to make player feedback a big part of the design process for advanced features, balancing, and possible story elements.

I plan on finishing the core engine general design stuff in the next couple of weeks. I also plan on doing some research into some Java features that I might be needing. And I also plan on looking into learning how to use JUnit before I start coding. JUnit will allow me to set up tests for every function and class so I will be able to test the whole project on a whim at the press of a button. Should let me test the whole system after changes to make sure it doesnt break anything.

I really cant wait until this game is ready for release, just dreaming about some of the planned features and options make me drool. Gaining control of a nation, raising legions of player and npc troops to fight for your cause and go on a campaign to take of the known world. One word.... fun. Well guess ill post back in a few days with some more progress. Until then.... tell people about dynamic!

-Toraux

Almost Back

Well my object oriented programming project for school is almost done. Gotta love microsoft visual studio for finally doing something right.... generating my uml diagrams for me. I plan on starting back to some design and dynamic stuff tomorrow night. Also starting to look into the possibility of getting a website up for dynamic in the next 6 months or so.

It also looks like this whole copyright and business stuff could be a pain in the ass. Wondering when would really be the best time to register as a corporation and when copyrights should be registered.... and the biggest question of all.... where is my initial capital coming from. I will really need to find a way to pump up my advertising income or come up with some other good ideas. Anyone who thinks they have an idea feel free to let me know, it will be greatly appreciated.

Anyways c-ya later.
-Toraux

Dawn of Comeback Approaching

About a week and a half to finish up this object oriented project (Damn you C++ and your conducivness to bad coding practices). As soon as the project is done or almost entirely done I should be moving back to dynamic. I am planning on spending the first few weeks back redesigning the operation of the core software, designing packaging and interfacing, writing up documentation and designing tests. I plan on using JUnit to allow for a more persistant and consistant development and validation. I also plan on using the object oriented nature of Java to my advantage to make Dynamic a lot easier to code and manage.

The first few weeks are already claimed by design and minor research. After that I plan to do a class a week for pretty much the entire summer until the core Engine is complete. I think I will be coding a mini tag game to go on the core engine soon after that to be a more comprehensive test of the design. (All this while on Coop, teaching my class, and any other personal projects that come up.) Hopefully the core package and the Engine will be done by the end of the summer, guess we'll just need to wait and see.

Hope to post back by the time I start design.
-Toraux